Slam Master J
In November 2006, he began teaming with Henry Godwinn at WWE SmackDown house shows and changed his name to "Cousin Ray" to reform The Godwinns with Henry. On the June 29, 2007 edition of SmackDown!, vignettes hyping the team of "Jesse and Festus" began to air. Jesse and Festus made their official televised in-ring debut on the October 5, 2007 edition of SmackDown!, defeating Mike Tolar and Chad Collyer. Their secondary gimmick was that when the opening bell rang, Festus's persona changed into a very focused, aggressive competitor as compared to the aloof, absent-minded character he had been portrayed as. When the bell rang signifying the end of the match, Festus returned to his "normal" self. On the October 16, 2007 edition of ECW, Jesse and Festus made their debut for the ECW brand in conjunction with a "Talent Exchange" discussed between ECW General Manager Armando Estrada and acting SmackDown! General Manager Vickie Guerrero. Jesse and Festus defeated their first notable opponents, the team of Elijah Burke and Nunzio, with a modified Rocket Launcher-esque maneuver. On the November 8 episode of SmackDown, Jesse and Festus suffered their first WWE loss in a 10-Man Tag Team Battle Royal WWE Tag Team Championship Contender's match, against Deuce 'n Domino, The Major Brothers, Shannon Moore and Jimmy Wang Yang, and William Regal and Dave Taylor. Jesse and Festus suffered their second loss in the WWE when they were defeated by WWE Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz on the November 27 edition of ECW, and lost to them again on the December 7 episode of SmackDown. After a brief hiatus, more vignettes aired, this time featuring Jesse, who explained Festus' condition and spoke of a cure for it. The team returned on February 8, 2008, on SmackDown, defeating Deuce 'n Domino. Festus appeared to be unchanged, aside from perhaps being more aggressive than ever. This success continued as they once again defeated Morrison and Miz in another non-title match on the February 29 airing of SmackDown. When they received a title match on the March 21 episode, however, they failed to win. They continued in a sporadic feud with Miz and Morrison for the rest of 2008, but also underwent a gimmick change which began on the September 12 airing of SmackDown. Jesse and Festus made their way to the ring, dressed in moving attire, and with a hand truck, large cardboard box and moving supplies. After an attack from Kenny Dykstra the duo proceeded to package Dykstra up and roll him away. The next week they did the same thing to Ryan Braddock and later the set of Carlito's Cabana. The gimmick highlighted SmackDown's move to MyNetworkTV, complete with overalls bearing the parodic company title of "MyMoving Company". After the show's move, however, they reverted to their previous gimmick. On April 15, 2009, Festus was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft and, as a result, was separated from his tag team partner Jesse who remained on SmackDown. Jesse appeared on the June 26 edition of SmackDown, during the first televised edition of Cryme Tyme's Word Up internet show. During this segment, Jesse exploited thug-wannabe mannerism. On Smackdown airing July 24, Jesse was officially renamed Slam Master J; his first match with this moniker was on the August 7, defeating Charlie Haas on Smackdown. He then formed a tag team with Jimmy Wang Yang and faced The Hart Dynasty on two occasions and lost. They picked up their first win as a team against Charlie Haas and Mike Knox. Slam Master J was soon unexplainingly out of WWE action until WrestleMania XXVI, where he took part in the 26-man Battle Royal with his former partner, Luke Gallows, formerly known as Festus, but both came up short and the match was won by Yoshi Tatsu. Slam Master J was released from his WWE contract on April 22, 2010 along with several other talents. Category:Current Alumni